The French language is taught throughout the school from the age of 3 years. The focus of teaching a modern foreign language at this stage is to stimulate the interest and enjoyment of a new language. In encouraging an early interest in a language we are endeavouring to broaden a young person's perspective of the world around him/her, and at the same time cultivate a sympathetic and open minded approach to those people whose culture may differ greatly from his/her own.

 

Pupils follow a balanced and varied programme of work through to the age of eleven. They are taught by a specialist teacher; their work involves songs, games, opportunities for role-play and much more to ensure that learning is fun.

 

By communicating in French, the children develop confidence, fluency and an acceptable accent; through asking and answering questions, through language games and through initiating and sustaining conversation with others using vocabulary relevant to their own interest and experiences. Pupils develop cultural awareness through opportunities to learn social conventions (e.g. greetings) and through discussions of similarities and differences between their own culture and that of the French.

In summary, we endeavour to:

• develop an early interest in a foreign language.
• encourage and develop the ability to use the language effectively, and with confidence, for the purposes of practical communication.
• offer insights into the culture and civilisation of the countries where French is spoken.
• provide enjoyment and intellectual stimulation.
• encourage positive attitudes towards foreign language learning and to speakers of those languages, and a sympathetic approach to their cultures and civilisations.
• develop pupils' understanding of themselves and their own culture.
• promote learning of skills of a more general application (e.g. analysis, memorising, drawing of inferences).